Political schmoozing

As well as being very well connected to Scottish politics, Charlotte Street Partners also enjoys social relationships with the political class in Holyrood. Hospitality recently provided by the firm includes:

Alex Salmond attended a reception hosted by Charlotte Street Partners on 19 June 2014.[1] It is not known who else attended, including any of the firm's clients.

Dinner with Alexander Anderson special adviser to the Scottish government for 'Infrastructure, Investment and the Cities and for Rural Affairs, Food & Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform'. The dinner with Charlotte Street Partners, which was registered in March 2015, took place at Contini Restorante on George Street in Edinburgh.

It also treated Malcolm Fleming, senior special adviser to the Scottish government for Energy, Enterprise & Tourism and for Fair Work, Skills & Training, to dinner at the 'Press & Journal' Energy Awards in Aberdeen (also registered in March 2015).

Colin McAllister, Head of Policy and Special Adviser to Nicola Sturgeon also had dinner on Charlotte Street Partners (in partnership with Edinburgh Airport). The occasion was a speech by Michael O'Leary on 'Ryanair's New Direction' at the Balmoral Hotel in Edinburgh (registered October 2014).[3]

Spinning for business

In 2015, Charlotte Street Partners' Chris Deerin contributed to a publication on the topic of 'The Good Corporation and its role in modern society' sponsored by SSE and with a contribution from Tim Montgomery.
Deerin wrote in a piece entitled: 'Profit and virtue: Refashioning the contract between society and business':

'The simple fact is that the contract between capital and society that sustained for the latter part of the 20th century and into the early years of the 21st has been destroyed... how do we refashion that contract?

There is talk of a new ‘double bottom- line’: profit and virtue. What is this? Building public trust in your wider intentions, deeply rooting yourself in the community around you, looking after and listening to your employees, putting in place responsible remuneration structures, being a good corporate citizen not to tick a box but because it is in everyone’s interests that you be one, paying your fair share of taxes. In this view, companies are cultural entities as well as economic ones. The way they behave sets a tone, reveals their true priorities and motivations, speaks to the nature of our wider society and the kind of people we are and want to be. In return, the good company seeks public permission to create wealth, make healthy profits and grow.

He goes on to talk about SSE's efforts to address this challenge. He also quotes Adam Smith, who 'while applauding commerce for its contribution to prosperity, justice and freedom, also worried about the moral character of merchants and manufacturers, and what could be done to keep them in line.'

[Smith's] appeal to our shared humanity, should form the basis of how we reconstruct our liberal capitalist system, of how we build the good society. The Good Corporation must, surely, be at its heart,' he concluded.[5]

Holyrood exposed: a guide to lobbying in Scotland flags the firm's 'high-level schmoozing' of politicians, including dinners arranged with SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, special adviser Malcolm Fleming and head of government policy Colin McAllister. Its board boasts some familiar names: Angus Grossart, who is chair of the government's infrastructure investment body and former vice chair of RBS, and former head of communications at RBSAndrew Wilson, who is also a former SNP MSP.
It also raised serious questions as to who actually benefits from the firm's extensive contact book, given its non-disclosure of lobbying clients.[7]

Charlotte Street is also involved in the campaign to bring fracking to Scotland, working on behalf of Cluff Natural Resources (CNS), whose founder, Algy Cluff, has warned of the deleterious economic impact of the Scottish government's ban on fracking. Cluff has even threatened to withdraw his investments in underground coal gasification. This was all coordinated with Charlotte Street Partners dinners with Nicola Sturgeon's infrastructure and energy advisers at Contini Ristorante, although what exactly was discussed is not known. [8]

In May 2015 the lobbying firm approached members of Falkirk Council on behalf of CNS, which was holding public exhibitions about plans for underground coal gasification, and had invited council members to discuss these plans. It was advised however that discussions were held ‘in a council facility, supported by council officers’. [9]

Malcolm Robertson, managing partner and founder. The son of former Scottish secretary Lord Robertson, he spent twelve years in senior positions at airport operator BAA including its communications director and been head of comment at the Telegraph Media Group, former political editor of the Daily Record and former columnist and leader writer at Scotland on Sunday. Since 2011 he has run his own strategic advisory company, MGWR Limited, representing clients in the banking and airports sector, as well as international private equity firms and infrastructure investors.[12][13]

Andrew Pyle, associate. Currently on a six month secondment to Charlotte Street from TSB.[11]

Chris Sibbald, associate. Actively involved in student politics, Sibbald ran the successful Charles Kennedy for Rector election in 2011, in 2012 he worked as a researcher in the House of Commons for the SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson and was a columnist for the Glasgow Guardian.[11]

Register of consultant lobbyists

The register of consultant lobbyists documents those clients on behalf of whom Charlotte Street Partners has met with government ministers. They have been registered since January 2016, and their listings so far are as follows:

January - March 2016

April - June 2016

Scottish referendum

Scottish referendum - it was thought that Charlotte Street, Weber Shandwick and Grayling were among the front runners to handle the 2014 Scottish independence referendum. The six-month contract was expected to be worth up to £10,000 a month.[24] In March 2014 it was announced Golley Slater had won the contract, worth between £25,000 and £50,000 over six months.[25]

Events

In April 2015, Charlotte Street organised an event in Edinburgh with Lord Ashcroft as the guest speaker. Ashcroft criticised the repeated attacks on Ed Miliband and the reputation they had given David Cameron and he rejected Labour and Liberal Democrat criticism of his constituency polling. Ashcroft said that despite public opinion viewing Cameron as the better Prime Minister and the Conservative's as the better party for the economy, the party are also seen as nasty and the personal attacks at Miliband have not helped this opinion.

Affiliations

Frame Creative

In October 2014, Charlotte Street joined forces with Glasgow-based Frame and experienced PR man Stephen McCranor to form Frame Creative, a consumer PR firm. The firm will be run by McCranor and came about from discussions after Frame were employed to create and run the Charlotte Street website. McCranor, who worked alongside Charlotte Street co-founder Malcolm Robertson at Beattie Media in the 1990s, was invited to join the discussions and said 'it was a no-brainer for me - when people like this ask you to a party, believe me, you party with them'.

At the launch, the agency announced two major clients, Greaves Sports and Finsbury Foods. They began working on Greaves' Christmas campaign and work with Finsbury started early in 2015.[27]